Surah Ar-Rahman, Part 8

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Dispenser of Grace.

Part 8.

كل من عليها فان

و يبقى وجه ربك ذو الجلل و الإكرام

فباى آلاء ربكما تكذبن 

Every person on Her will perish
But will remain the Face of your (singular) Lord, possessor of Majesty and Honor
Then which of the favours of your (dual) Lord will you deny

I have been trying to understand the verses in this section for a long time and alhamdulillah, this Ramadhan, more of their meaning have been made clearer.  I am sure that there are more to be learnt but for now, I am satisfied with some of my questions/confusion being answered.  Part of my writing this in my blog on this night, the 27th of Ramadhan, is to give coherence to the various understanding but also to share it with others as part of my amal (good deed).  May God accept it from me.

This part is the turning point in the Surah.  Before, God talks of the creation.  Here, the reminder is about the Hour and its inescapability.

"Everyone on Her will perish" is a good reminder to me.  It brings everything back into focus.  Remember earlier in Surah Ar-Rahman, there is an allusion to the clock ticking and the Hour draws near?  Well, even if we doubt of the Hour, the 'mini-hour' for each of us cannot be denied for everyone faces death.  A friend recently lost a relative, a little boy.  She shared with me what his five year old brother said, "It's okay, every heart will stop beating one day."  What wisdom from the mouth of a child.  We all face death, be it before the Hour or when the Hour arrives.

Then God reminds us that "will remain the Face of your Lord."  What is interesting is the use of the word وجه (Face).  In Surah 2 verse 115, this word is used in conjunction with the words "East and West," the singular version of the words mentioned earlier in this Surah.  In the book "An anothology of Qur'anic Commentaries," various commentators from different backgrounds and different ages within Islamic history discussed about the word وجه as with regards to that verse but perhaps we can learn a bit from a few of them:

Tabari mentioned that "Mujahid is reported to have said that there is the face of God [means] the qibla of God.
Tabrisi: "It is also said that it (there is the face of God) means 'there is God, knowing and seeing [all]'...there will remain the face of your Lord (Q.55:27) means that 'your Lord shall remain' [as reported] from al-Kalbi...
It is reported from Ibn Abbas and Muqatil: 'Or, [it could be that] b  means of wajh He is referring to His [very] essence.'

He is the first and the last.  God paints a picture when He alone remains. Yet, what is interesting is that His attributes of Majesty and Honour are mentioned when He is alone.  These two attributes are usually connected with the other, like when we say, "Your majesty" to a king or queen.  He/She need us to validate that he or she is 'your majesty'.  But here God is alone - Nouman Ali Khan says in his lecture that God is indicating by this that He does not need anyone else to possess Majesty and Honour (or His other attributes).  Basically, instead it highlights our utter dependence on Him and so our worship and constant praise of Him is not for His benefit but for ours.

How so?  It is connected back to the first verse - Ar-Rahman.  His mercy upon us.  Each one of our prayers, invocation (du'a), good deeds is a mercy from Him.  Adam fell from Jannah (heaven) and was removed from being in His presence.  We, as his children, have to make our way back into His presence and when you are far away from your loved ones, you yearn for being with them and anything that helps remind you of them is greatly appreciated.  This yearning for being in God's presence is eased through such deeds as mentioned.  For the more we do, the closer we get to Him because God says that for every step we take towards Him, He takes 10 towards us.

Therefore, how ungrateful is the one who forgets that his time will run out and he is still nowhere close to the Ar-Rahman.